lijTRODUCTlOrJ. xvii 



Lord Knutsford, and, under the latter,of M. DeFreycinet, M. Flourens, 

 M. Ribot (and with these eminent Ministers of both nations, should 

 be mentioned, the Ambassadors of France and England, at their 

 respective capitals, viz. : — Lord Lyons, Lord Lytton,* and M. 

 Waddington), one and all, have approached and grappled with the 

 difficulties that have arisen, in a spirit worthy of the traditional 

 friendship and alliance of the two nations, and all parties have 

 shown themselves to be actuated only by the paramount con- 

 sideration of arriving at an amicable and honourable settlement of 

 the controversy. 



This is an encouraging illustration of that high-toned diplomatic 

 policy which is so full of promise for the maintenance ■ of the 

 entente cordiale in this, as in all future questions affecting mutual 

 and international relations. 



The chapter upon Egypt, under the title of " England, France, 

 and Egypt," discusses a question, the magnitude and gravity of 

 Which, it is impossible to overestimate, and sensible of its wide- 

 reaching importance, I have approached it, and endeavoured fo 

 deal with it in no preconceived partizanship, nor doctrinaire con- 

 victions, but rather, with an open mind, anxious only to record a 

 full and faithful history of the remarkable events which have trans- 

 pired in Egypt, from 1834 to 1890, and of the political transactions 

 of whatever character that these events evolved. 



In this effort, I trust I have done full justice to the motives, and 

 to the action that has been taken by the several governments, 

 and of the statesmen, who have been, at any rate, from 1876 to 

 1890, primarily responsible throughout this period. 



As regards the past policy which has been pursued in Egypt, 

 by Liberal and Conservative Governments, since the deposition 

 of Ismail Pasha in 1879, it is surely puerile and unchivalrous to 

 attempt to single out either Mr. Gladstone, or the Marquis of 

 Salisbury (the only two living statesmen who are at all responsible) 

 for public condemnation, and personal responsibility, because, an 



* We did not anticipate that the distinguished diplomatist. Lord Lytton, whose 

 eminent services, as the Ambassador of Great Britain to France, we have cordially 

 acknowledged, should have been so suddenly removed by death. As British 

 Minister at Paris, he was a worthy successor to the equally distinguished diplo- 

 matist, Lord Lyons, both of whom, it may be truly said, displayed in a 

 remarkable degree, that stiaviter in modo, et fortiter in re, wherein consists 

 the true secret of success in the rare science of diplomacy. 



